Business

2:00 am

Wed November 23, 2011

The Last Word In Business

Our last word in business is: Don't jack up the Jack. The makers of Jack Daniels are raising their glasses after a tax proposal was voted down this week in Lynchburg, Tennessee.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The proposal called for a referendum on a plan to tax Jack Daniels whiskey by the barrel to bring it up to $5 million annually. The drive by some residents was killed after a 10 to five vote by the Moore County Council. The company that owns the distillery currently pays one-and-a-half million dollars in local property taxes.

WERTHEIMER: A resident who opposed the idea said that it sounds like enough to him. Other opponents worry the bucolic town could lose tourists if the company left because of the tax.

INSKEEP: So Moore County will continue to embrace its best-known business, though not necessarily its best-known product. If you want to buy some Jack Daniels legally, you have to cross the county line. Moore County is dry. That's the business news on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

WERTHEIMER: And I'm Linda Wertheimer. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.